


The 5th of July

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, F/M, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Miscarriage, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 08:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11414373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: The Doctor and Rose go back every year to the beach where their second chance at forever began.





	The 5th of July

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a quote prompt on the doctorroseprompts blog on Tumblr. The quote is the first line of the fic.

“I’m here not because I am supposed to be here, or because I’m trapped here, but because I’d rather be with you than anywhere else in the world.”

Rose glanced over at the Doctor as her thumb mindlessly stroked the back of his thumb. There was an indent in the sand where the TARDIS used to be, and the Doctor pulled his gaze away from it to look down at Rose.

“I just wanted you to know that,” he murmured, giving her fingers a squeeze.

She smiled at him, a slow and beautiful smile, as she whispered, “Yeah. Me too.”

They returned to that little beach every year on the fifth of July. They would take a few minutes to mourn what had been lost, but then they took the rest of the day to rejoice in what was found.

On their first anniversary back to the beach, the Doctor was laden down with a jewelry box in his pocket and a ring made from a metal and gems found only on Gallifrey. He took her out to the beach at sundown and made love to her on the shore, and it was there that he formally asked her to spend the rest of her forever with him.

“Was already planning on it,” she’d answered through her tears of joy.

On the second trip, they invited a select few friends and family to witness their marriage, and they kissed beneath the stars as they became husband and wife.

On the third trip, they brought up the idea of maybe bringing their children to this old beach one day to see where their love story started.

On the fourth trip, they brought along the tiniest bag of ashes, and wept together as they scattered their son among the sea.

On the fifth trip, they carried a newborn on their chest and told their daughter all about their previous trips to the beach, and about her big brother, born too soon and taken even sooner.

On the tenth trip, they played in the shallow waters with their five-year-old and three-year-old, and they argued names for the little boy due any week.

On the twenty-fifth trip, they watched from the shore as their four kids and one grandkid splashed in the waves.

On the fiftieth trip, they were alone again, and spread out across a blanket in the sand amidst a picnic that went half-eaten. They made love under the stars like they’d done back when they were young, and they curled up together on the beach and celebrated all of life’s gifts.

“It’s been great, hasn’t it?” he murmured into her ear, drowsy and sated.

“Better than I could’ve ever imagined,” she agreed, slotting her fingers through his.

On the sixty-third trip, Rose carried an urn in her arms and walked with her great-grandson to the shoreline. He listened to her recount all of her memories of this beach with an attentiveness that would have made anyone think he hadn’t heard those stories dozens of times.

He offered his condolences and sympathies when he saw her tears as she spread her husband across the sea.

“Don’t be,” she whispered with a smile. She touched the pendant on her neck that contained a few of her Doctor’s ashes, keeping him close her to heart as she kept his love and memories in her heart. “The ones that love us never truly leave us. That’s why love stories don’t have endings. They don’t have endings because love doesn’t end.”

On the sixty-fifth trip, the Doctor and Rose’s four children, nine grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren made the annual pilgrimage one final time.

It was there that Rose was laid to rest with her husband and their lost son, and thus the greatest love story anyone on that beach ever heard about finally came full circle.


End file.
